Time to Break up the Monopoly

 This article should scare people. Facebook has forced the government of Australia to back down (and not the other way around). When a company can directly control legislation, there is a problem. 

The biggest problem is that Facebook has grown too big and no government will now stand up to it because it can block government content, news content, and any user content it wants to block. That means we, the people, are the only ones left to stop them.

This shouldn't be difficult, but unfortunately, Facebook has designed and perfected its platform in such a way that it has not only become addictive, but also has become the sole mediator of what information you receive. They have done this to the point that now they can fill your feed with garbage advertising and you still will scroll through it. 

So, it is time, we leave Facebook. Ideally, the majority of the world would quit in protest, but I have learned that ideals don't work for most. Even I would have a problem completely cutting it, and I frequently take week-long or month long breaks from it. So, the solution I propose is branching out. Dedicate one day of your week to exploring other social networks and forbid yourself from getting on FB for that one day. 

If enough people migrate some of their time from FB, FB will feel it. In addition, you might find another network you like better than FB. In addition to Pinterest, LinkedIn, Goodreads, and Blogger (which I already use), here are some options I am planning to try: WT Social, Parler, Mastodon, MeWe, Ello, Steemit, and Diaspora. 

I might also try VK, but I don't like that the Russian Government is now controlling it in the same way that I don't like how Facebook is being controlled by American politics and Zuckerberg's greed. For the same reason, a site from China like Sina Weibo is not appealing (in addition to the fact I have to use Google to translate the pages since my Chinese character recognition is minimal). I also don't like Discord because it limits your content only to those in your group and it is a very different medium than FB.